LUCIFUGOUS INSECTS. 165 



a little spider with round glossy abdomen, black, with 

 three scarlet spots near the extremity (probably a 

 Theridkm)\ this is held in great terror as highly 

 venomous. About this time I find them carrying 

 yellow membranous egg-bags, globular, thin, and 

 empty. When uncovered they are unwilling to run, 

 keeping close to the under surface of the stone that 

 has served them for shelter and concealment. 



A much larger Spider, of the genus Lycosa, in- 

 habits houses and heaps of stones ; in both of these 

 rather dissimilar situations, it retains the same habits : 

 the female carries constantly about an egg- bag of 

 buff-coloured silk, perfectly circular, rather more 

 than an inch in diameter, but flat, being about two 

 hues in thickness, with a narrow thin edge all 

 round. The spider crawls about with this nest be- 

 neath her body, her feet spreading around its edges ; 

 and nothing will induce her to part with it. 



That curious flattened Arachnidan that looks like 

 a Scorpion without a tail {Phrynus reniformis), with 

 the second pair of feet so produced and attenuated 

 as to resemble lengthened threads, is not uncommon 



the use is so little understood, Mr. Hill offers the following sugges- 

 tion. « The comb-like appendage under the corslet of the Scorpion, 

 so little noticed by naturalists, and when noticed, never determined as 

 to the part it acts in the animal's economy, seems to me very ob- 

 viously to relate to the deficient tactile powers of these Arachnida. 

 I take it to be the most sensitive part of the Scorpion ; all other parts, 

 as in the Articulata generally, being insensitive; —that these parts 

 are used in the same manner as insects use their antenna?, for tactile 

 purposes; and that they are necessary in this animal, that he may 

 acquaint himself with the character of the body into which he is to 

 inject his poison," 



